Bahrain football team set for Asiad

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s 22-player squad that will be competing in the men’s football tournament at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, starting next week has been named. The Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) announced yesterday the team list ahead of their highly anticipated participation.

A majority of the roster features names that represented the Kingdom’s under-23 Olympic team at the just-concluded qualifiers for the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2024.

According to competition rules, Asian Games football participants must be of that age-group, although teams are allowed to have up to three players older. The Bahrainis, coached by Dario Basic from Croatia, only feature two veterans, namely Sayed Mohammed Adnan and Ali Adnan Dhaif.

The rest of the list includes Khalil Ebrahim Ahmed, Hasan Isa Juma, Ali Mohamed Redha, Ahmed Abdulhameed Hasan, Hussain Ali Aleker, Hassan Abdulnabi Ali, Sayed Jawad Alawi, Hani Taha Alharobi, Mahmood Mohamed Ali, Hussain Abdulkarim, Hussain Jaafar Haroona, Abdulla Nemer Almesaeed, Ahmed Dheyaa Ali, Abdulla Ali Alahmed, Abdulla Ali Alsubaiei, Mubarak Mohammed, Abdulla Al Khalasi, Salman Abdulla Qadhaib, Mohammed Abdulqayoom and Salman Adel Al Isa.

Football is one of 18 sports the Kingdom will be participating in at this year’s Asiad. The men’s tournament is scheduled to begin from Tuesday, a few days before the official opening ceremony of the Asian Games.

The grand inauguration is only scheduled for 23 September, but Bahrain get their campaign underway in Group E beforehand. The nationals are in the same group as South Korea, Thailand and Kuwait.

They play their first game on opening night against the Thais, and then face Kuwait two days later on Thursday. They wrap up the preliminary phase against the South Koreans on 24 September.

There are 23 nations in all competing in men’s football, divided into six groups for the preliminaries. Group A features hosts China, Bangladesh, Myanmar and India; Group B comprises Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Mongolia; Group C includes Uzbekistan, Syria, Hong Kong and Afghanistan; Group D consists of Japan, Palestine and Qatar; and Group F features North Korea, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, and Chinese-Taipei.

At the end of a single round-robin, the top two teams from each group along with four best third-placers advance to the round of 16. Bahrain will be sending its largest-ever contingent to the Hangzhou Asiad, with 248 male and female athletes flying the Kingdom’s flag in the multi-sport event.

Aside from football, the nationals will also be competing in athletics, handball, boxing, judo, weightlifting, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, rowing, shooting, cycling, table tennis, taekwondo, sailing, basketball, volleyball, E-sports, and cricket.

This year’s Asiad will mark the 13th Asian Games Bahrain is taking part in. The BOC is hopeful for a record-breaking campaign in Hangzhou and for exceeding their medal tallies from the last two editions of the Asian Games.